Anna Louise A gingerbread traybake is one of the finest things in the British baking repertoire — dark, sticky, warmly spiced with ground ginger and mixed spice and given depth and colour by the black treacle and dark brown sugar.
The texture is dense and slightly sticky rather than light and airy — more like a parkin than a sponge — and it improves enormously over the first two to three days as the flavours deepen and the texture becomes more yielding.
The lemon glacé icing on top is the contrast that makes the whole thing complete. The sharpness of the lemon against the warm, slightly bitter gingerbread is one of those flavour combinations that is considerably better than either element alone.
This is a traybake that divides opinion on the day it is made and unites opinion completely by day two. It always improves.
Ingredients for Mary Berry Gingerbread Traybake
For the Gingerbread
- 250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 250g soft dark brown sugar
- 250g black treacle
- 250g golden syrup
- 400ml whole milk
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 450g plain flour, sifted
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda — dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water
For the Lemon Glacé Icing
- 200g icing sugar, sifted
- 3–4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
How to Make Mary Berry Gingerbread Traybake
Step 1 — Preheat and Prepare
Preheat your oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Grease a 33x23cm traybake tin generously and line with baking parchment, leaving overhang at both long sides.
The relatively low oven temperature is important — gingerbread contains a high proportion of sugar and treacle that burns at high heat before the centre is cooked through.
Step 2 — Melt the Butter, Sugar, Treacle, and Syrup
Place the butter, soft dark brown sugar, black treacle, and golden syrup in a large saucepan. Heat over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and everything has combined into a smooth, deeply dark, fragrant mixture. Do not allow it to boil.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for ten minutes.
Step 3 — Add the Milk and Eggs
Pour the milk into the cooled treacle mixture and stir to combine. Add the beaten eggs and stir through. The mixture should now be a deep, dark liquid.
Step 4 — Add the Dry Ingredients
Sift the flour, ground ginger, mixed spice, and cinnamon directly into the treacle liquid. Stir well with a wooden spoon or large whisk until completely smooth — the batter should be quite liquid and pourable.
Add the dissolved bicarbonate of soda and stir through quickly. The bicarbonate causes the batter to froth slightly — this is correct and is the leavening that gives the gingerbread its rise.
Step 5 — Pour and Bake
Pour the batter into the prepared tin — it should flow into the corners without any spreading. The batter is more liquid than a standard traybake batter.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the gingerbread is set, slightly risen, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The top should be dark and slightly springy when pressed.
Leave to cool completely in the tin — at least two hours. Do not attempt to cut before it is completely cold.
Step 6 — Apply the Lemon Glacé Icing
Mix the sifted icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a smooth, slightly runny glacé icing — flowing from a spoon in a steady ribbon. Stir in the lemon zest.
Lift the completely cooled gingerbread from the tin using the parchment overhang. Place on a board. Pour the lemon glacé icing over the top and spread gently to the edges — letting it drip slightly over the sides.
Leave to set for twenty minutes. Cut into squares.
Tips For Perfect Gingerbread Traybake
Use black treacle — not molasses or extra golden syrup. Black treacle gives the dark colour, the slightly bitter depth, and the characteristic British gingerbread flavour that molasses and golden syrup alone cannot replicate. It is the defining ingredient.
Cool the treacle mixture before adding the eggs. Hot treacle mixture added directly to beaten eggs partially scrambles them. Ten minutes of cooling gives a temperature that combines smoothly and safely.
The batter is more liquid than a standard traybake — this is correct. Gingerbread batter is much more liquid than a creamed butter sponge batter. It pours rather than spoons. This is deliberate and gives the characteristic dense, slightly sticky texture of proper gingerbread.
Cool completely — at least two hours — before cutting. Warm gingerbread is too soft and too sticky to cut cleanly into squares. Completely cold gingerbread cuts into neat, clean-edged squares that hold their shape.
Make it at least one day ahead. Of all the traybakes on this site, gingerbread improves the most dramatically over the first two to three days. Day one it is pleasant. Day two it is excellent. Day three it is genuinely extraordinary.
Serving Suggestions
At room temperature as an afternoon tea traybake. On day two or three when the flavour has deepened. As a gift — it improves in transit. At a Christmas bake sale — gingerbread is particularly appropriate and consistently popular.
How to Store Gingerbread Traybake
At room temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. The gingerbread improves significantly over this time.
In the freezer: Freeze in squares without the icing for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature and apply icing fresh.
Mary Berry Gingerbread Traybake
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Grease and line a 33x23cm tin with parchment overhang.
- Melt butter, dark brown sugar, treacle, and golden syrup in a large saucepan over medium-low heat — stir until smooth. Do not boil. Cool 10 minutes.
- Add milk to cooled mixture — stir. Add beaten eggs — stir through.
- Sift flour, ginger, mixed spice, and cinnamon into the liquid. Stir until completely smooth. Add dissolved bicarbonate of soda — stir through quickly. Batter will froth slightly.
- Pour into tin — it flows into the corners. Bake 40–45 minutes until set and skewer comes out clean. Cool completely in tin — at least 2 hours.
- Mix icing sugar and lemon juice to a smooth, flowing icing. Add lemon zest. Lift gingerbread from tin — pour icing over, spread to edges, let it drip. Set 20 minutes. Cut into squares.
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I leave out the black treacle?
The treacle is the defining ingredient — without it the gingerbread loses its characteristic dark colour and slightly bitter depth. It becomes a pale, lighter-flavoured spice cake rather than a proper gingerbread.
Can I add stem ginger?
Yes — 75g of stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely chopped, stirred into the batter gives an additional, more vivid ginger hit alongside the ground ginger. The syrup can be drizzled over the finished gingerbread in place of or alongside the lemon icing.
Can I make this without the lemon icing?
Yes — the gingerbread is complete without any topping. Dust with icing sugar instead for a simpler finish, or serve completely plain.
Why is my gingerbread sinking in the centre?
The most common cause is opening the oven door before 35 minutes. Gingerbread is particularly sensitive to temperature drops during baking. Do not open the oven before the minimum time and always do the skewer test before removing.
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